Solid foundations lead to student success
During one of our recent site visits, we met a previous ECP student who recently spent time in Belgium as an Erasmus exchange student. Xenophen Masipa, who is currently completing is BTech in Architectural Technology, completed a first semester Masters in Architecture course as part of his exchange programme. Xenophen’s story highlights how extended curriculum programmes, especially at CPUT, are positively contributing to creating viable pathways to academic success for students. It also offers a useful antidote to common myths about ECP students, who are commonly branded as ‘weak’, ‘poor’ or ‘at risk’. Most in the ECP community have heard or tell similar stories of student success, the blog post can be found on the CPUT website. These stories reinforce the significance of the key principles on which ECP is built; the provision of access to higher education and the careful attention to educational support and nurturing to ensure student success.
Xenophen had the following to say about the benefits of participating in this educational exchange programme in Brussels: ‘The experience was truly a life changing one, because I feel as if my perspective on architecture and the world has changed but for the positive. This was truly an experience I’d recommend to anyone because it’s a journey that taught me a lot about myself and what I could become but also as to what our city & country could become.’
